LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Japanese Language
built 658 days ago
The Japanese Language Kit works as an extension to Mac OS software version 7.1 or later. It ... allows you to run Japanese applications. Because the Language Kit uses the operating system you already have, there is no need to store an additional system on your hard disk. The Japanese Language Kit also contains Kotoeri, the same easy-to-use input method that is included with KanjiTalk.
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Western influences during the Meiji Era, and continued influences during the American occupation after World War II... had important effects on the Japanese written language. One effect was on the use of foreign words (外来語 gairaigo) in Japanese, as well as the increased use of romaji. Another effect was to change the writing direction of Japanese.
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No certain relation between Japanese and other languages has been established, although it is classed as being from the Japanese language family of 12 languages, in a sub-group of its own. Structural similarities suggest a possible remote relationship with the Korean language and with the Altaic languages, including Manchu, Mongolian, and Turkish. Several scholars doubt this theory... because of the lack of vocabulary resemblances. Some vocabulary links, however, do exist between Japanese and East Asian language groups such as Tibeto-Burman and Austro-Asiatic. Luchuan, the language of the Ryukyu Islands, is so similar to Japanese that it is considered a dialect variant of it.
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Two forms of the language are considered standard: hyojungo, or Standard Japanese, and kyotsugo, or the common language. Hyojungo is taught in schools and used on television and in official communications. Standard Japanese can ... be divided into bungo 'literary language,' and kogo 'oral language.' The two varieties differ in grammar and vocabulary. Bungo was the main written form of Japanese until the late 1940s and is still relevant today for historians, literary scholars and lawyers. Kogo is mostly used today.
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Most nouns in the Japanese language may be made polite by the addition of o- or go-; as a prefix. o- is generally used for words of native Japanese origin, whereas go- is affixed to words of Chinese derivation. In some cases, the prefix has become a fixed part of the word, and is included even in regular speech, such as gohan 'cooked rice; meal.' Such a construction often indicates deference to either the item's owner or to the object itself. For example, the word tomodachi 'friend,' would become o-tomodachi when referring to the friend of someone of higher status (though mothers often use this form to refer to their children's friends). On the other hand, a polite female speaker may sometimes refer to mizu 'water' as o-mizu merely to show politeness; this contrasts with the more abrupt speech of rude men (though men may ... use very polite forms when speaking to superiors). See Gender differences in spoken Japanese.
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Unlike languages like Italian in which knowledge of the standard language is sufficient for communication in almost any circumstance, it may be necessary to be familiar with local dialects of Japanese on some occasions. Many learners testify that reading manga and watching anime helps quite a lot... the benefits of this are disputed.
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Japanese Language